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The Sustainability Edge

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The Sustainability Edge

How to Drive Top-Line Growth with Triple-Bottom-Line Thinking

University of Toronto Press,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Prioritizing the health of the planet is good for companies, investors, employees and consumers.

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

Today’s consumers and investors are pressuring industries to become more accountable and responsible. Businesses must reinvent themselves to meet today’s social, environmental and financial challenges. Sustainability consultant Suhas Apte and business professor Jagdish N. Sheth believe sustainability is the core of continued growth and long-term success. The authors provide a “sustainability roadmap” to guide your organization through the transformation toward meeting this goal and to identify ways to engage all your stakeholders. Despite their tendency to rely on industry-speak, getAbstract recommends the authors’ business case for sustainability to forward-thinking leaders and environmental advocates.

Summary

The Challenge

Yesterday’s strategies no longer deliver a competitive advantage. In today’s business environment, companies face numerous external challenges to growth. Once-abundant resources have become scarce, driving up costs. Competitors quickly duplicate innovations, customers are more cynical, and government regulation and policy shift continually. Today, companies need new strategies to achieve a long-lasting competitive edge. Emory University business professor Kevin P. Coyne reports that companies must develop a “sustainable competitive advantage” to remain ahead. That advantage will come from sustainability itself. Many developed world markets have reached maturity, and most product categories suffer from saturation. Fueled by social network data, millennial consumers demand that companies practice transparency and accountability in conservation and sustainability. Opportunities for growth in the developing world also require new tactics and models. As more consumers in these nations enter the middle class, the demand on Earth’s finite resources continues to accelerate.

Sustainability means basing your business practices on the premise of an interconnected...

About the Authors

Suhas Apte, president of Apte Consultants and a partner in the Blue Earth Network, previously served as global sustainability officer at Kimberly-Clark. Emory University business professor Jagdish N. Sheth has published more than 300 research papers and 30 books, including his autobiography, The Accidental Scholar.

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